1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a high resolution 2D/3D switchable display apparatus and, more particularly, to a high resolution 2D/3D switchable display apparatus in which a resolution is not lowered and cross-talk decreases.
2. Description of the Related Art
3D image display devices provide an image for a left eye and an image for a right eye having binocular parallax. The images respectively provided to the left eye and the right eye of a user allow the user to view a stereoscopic 3D image.
In conventional methods, visual fields of images for left and right eyes constituting a stereoscopic pair are divided using a parallax barrier or a lenticular lens. In this case, the two images constituting the stereoscopic pair are displayed on sets of different columns of a single panel. For example, the image for the left eye is displayed on odd columns and the image for the right eye is displayed on even columns. However, since the images for the left and right eyes are simultaneously displayed by a single display panel, the resolution of each of the images viewed by a user is reduced to ½ of the original resolution of the display panel.
In order to keep a resolution of images as the original resolution of the display panel, the images for the left and right can be alternately displayed over the whole display panel.
FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a conventional stereoscopic display apparatus 20, which is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,969,850. Referring to FIG. 1, the stereoscopic display apparatus 20 includes a backlight unit 21, a spatial light modulator 22, a lenticular lens array 23, and a high speed responsive liquid crystal display panel 26. The spatial light modulator 22 is formed of a plurality of cells 24 and 25 that switch between a transparent state and an opaque state according to an applied signal. In the stereoscopic display apparatus 20, the high speed responsive LCD display panel 26 alternately displays, at high speed, the images for the left and right eyes over the whole screen of the high speed responsive LCD display panel 26. The spatial light modulator 22 switches the cells 24 and 25 in synchronization with the switching of the left and right images displayed on the high speed responsive LCD display panel 26. For example, while the high speed responsive LCD display panel 26 displays the images for the left eye, the spatial light modulator 22 turns on the left eye cells 24 so that the light emitted from the backlight unit 21 is directed only towards a left eye viewing zone 28 of a user. Also, while the high speed responsive LCD display panel 26 displays the right eye image, the spatial light modulator 22 turns on the right eye cells 25 so that the light emitted from the backlight unit 21 is directed only towards a right eye viewing zone 27 of the user. In a conventional 2-D mode, all the cells 24 and 25 of the spatial light modulator 22 are turned on.
However, as in the above described prior art, when the left eye and right eye cells 24 and 25 of the spatial light modulator 22 are simply turned on and off in alternation, cross-talk is generated between the image for the left eye and the image for the right eye so that the user is not able to view an accurate 3-D image.
In general, most display panels sequentially scan an image of a frame from the top of a screen to the bottom. While an image of a previous frame is still displayed on the lower portion of the screen, an image of the next frame is displayed on the upper portion of the screen. For example, when the time for a complete scanning of a frame is T, as illustrated in FIG. 2, a right eye image corresponding to an image at time “0” is displayed in the whole screen at a time “0” and a left eye image corresponding to an image at a time “T” is displayed in the whole screen at a time “T”. However, since the right eye image corresponding to an image at a time “0” is gradually changed into the left eye image which corresponds to an image at a time “T”, the left eye image is displayed on the upper portion of the screen while the right eye image is still displayed on the lower portion of the screen, between time “0” and “T”. As a result, cross-talk is generated between the image for the left eye and the image for the right eye.